In this preliminary work we are interested in swarms that are interacting. That is, the entire
swarm is split into two parts initially, and then the two components approach each other as flocks. We
then are interested in understanding the results based on physical parameters,
such as attraction/repulsion length scales, delayed communication, and
coupling strength. The model for the swarm we use is based on the the employed
in [1]}, which describe a mathematically swarm model using
the Morse potential. Recently, the authors in [2]} studied
the effects of swarm collisions using the Morse potential as a function of
incident angle of the interacting flocks. However, in any robotic swarm there
must be some delay between sensing other agents, and control actuation. We
investigated the result of applying delay to the coupling terms of a swarm
model. As a result, every agent behaves as though the other agents are at the
positions they were at \(\tau \)  time units before. We found that the flocking
state is unlikely following collisions of delay-coupled swarms, even for
fairly small values of \(\tau \) . The implication is that it should be possible
to have one swarm modify the intent of another by either capturing the swarm,
or redirecting the mean direction of the flock.
